What do you guys use to clean up around your stove? Ash, wood chips etc.

Sometimes if I load my stove from the front door I get some ashes on the ash lip. And of course there are always some wood chips that fall around the stove. I've been using my shop vac, and of course I always wait several hours before vacuuming any spilled ashes to make sure there are no embers, and I never vacuum unless I'm going to be home for several hours to keep an eye on it. But I get a lot of ash dust coming out of the vacuum, even when using a paper filter. I've seen some "Ash Vacuums" for sale, but they aren't cheap. Just looking for some suggestions.

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I use a shop vac to clean up around the stove after loading. Even had the thing on fire a few times! They go up quick and had to kick it out the door. Best thing is just replace the filter and it's good to go again! Those Craftsman vacs are built like a tank

Sometimes if I load my stove from the front door I get some ashes on the ash lip. And of course there are always some wood chips that fall around the stove. I've been using my shop vac, and of course I always wait several hours before vacuuming any spilled ashes to make sure there are no embers, and I never vacuum unless I'm going to be home for several hours to keep an eye on it. But I get a lot of ash dust coming out of the vacuum, even when using a paper filter. I've seen some "Ash Vacuums" for sale, but they aren't cheap. Just looking for some suggestions.

Thanks!

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You could try using your ShopVac with a Hepa Filter like this one for $30:

During use, I just use the broom that came with a fireplace utensil set. I'm basically just pushing it off to the side in a pile so it doesn't get sucked into the blower and looks a bit nicer. If I have some hot coals spill out, I just sweep those onto the shovel and put em back into the insert. I have a hepa filter on our house vacuum and will do a quick vacuum with the tool part of it to get the hearth nice and front of the stove nice and clean.

During the burning season, just a little hand broom & dustpan...and into the stove or the trash. Spring/summer stove cleaning/flue sweep time...vacuum. Rick

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+1 here. I actually use the broom that came with my tool set as my hand broom. I normally wait until reloading or start up when the stove is cool and sweep the front lip and ledges of the stove off with a dust pan brush then just sweep it all up off the tile floor.

I just sweep it up every few days and throw it in the stove. K.I.S.S. right?

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Same here. I use the broom from the set and the ash shovel to sweep everything up. If I know the ash can is cool, it goes in there. Otherwise, into the fire it goes, it is usually just bits of wood and sawdust anyway so it burns right up. We burn pallet wood sometimes to even out some of our not so good wood. Since nails and vacuums are not friends, we clean out the stove by hand too - small stove, it isn't so bad.

I use this, keep it close by the stove. Try to keep things neat. Don't put too much ash into if I can help it but strong enough and convenient.

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At home, hardwood floor, I just sweep up. At MIL's with the Buck 91, she's got carpet. Hard to sweep carpet. I also want to keep dust at an absolute minimum so I've been thinking about one of those hand vacs, probably a plug-in model. It can't be blowing out dust, though...

I keep a dust pan with a natural fiber brush close to the hearth and use it regularly. I just recently added the vac to my Makita 18v cordless collection though. I don't use it for the big stuff, but after sweeping it does a heck of a job keeping the dust at bay. It doesn't blow any dust out, that I've noticed. So far, I'm really liking it.

On a more serious note, the proximity of the exterior door and my stove is very close. Ever try to put a log in the stove that doesn't fit for one reason or another and have to take it out on fire? It's nice to have the door as close as possible there too, and that is no different than that vac filter catching on fire. I believe everyone has been in that situation at one time or another if you burn long enough. Some things aren't always perfect and stuff happens. The difference is you have to know what to do in the seconds you have to react! That's what will usually determine the outcome of a scary situation, level head, thinking, and no panicking.

Point I am trying to make here is stoves can be great, but they can also be dangerous if you don't always have a plan B for any problem that arises.

The difference is you have to know what to do in the seconds you have to react! That's what will usually determine the outcome of a scary situation, level head, thinking, and no panicking.

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No argument with the value of a level head, and thinking. The difference between our philosophies perhaps lies in the timing of one's use of those capabilities. Good risk management habits (thinking things through ahead of time and taking steps to avoid any anticipated hazards) go a long way toward keeping one out of scary situations. Rick

Lopi Liberty in the house, Century Hearth FW240007 in the workshop. Bunch of other junk. You don't really care anyway.